Janet Aitchison

Janet started her career in ELT as a teacher at St Giles International in Brighton. After realizing that she could combine her dual interests in teaching and publishing she got a job at Longman ELT as an Editor. Over twenty years later she is still in ELT publishing, having worked for Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press in addition to Longman. Throughout her career she has been involved in a wide range of ELT products in both British and American English, from primary to secondary to adult, and she has published for many markets, from Brazil to Europe to the United States. She has held a number of positions throughout her career including development editor, editorial manager, publisher, publishing manager and publishing director.

Janet is currently Publishing Director for Adult Courses at Cambridge University Press in New York.

How often do writers get the chance to find out what goes on behind the scenes at the publishers? Here we give you a rare chance to do just that. In this module Publishing Director Janet Aitchison draws on her experience of working at a senior level for several ELT publishers, and with many ELT writers, to give a comprehensive account of how ELT publishing works.
What’s the best way to approach a publisher with an idea? What’s the publisher looking for? What happens once you’ve been commissioned and what happens to your manuscript once you’ve handed it in?